WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 23, 2004 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II appointed Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Galante of Dallas to be bishop of Camden, New Jersey, and named Auxiliary Bishop George Thomas of Seattle as bishop of Helena, Montana.
The Pope also accepted the resignation of Bishop Thomas Costello, the auxiliary of Syracuse, New York, since 1978. He recently turned 75.
Bishop Galante succeeds Nicholas DiMarzio who was appointed bishop of Brooklyn in August. Bishop Thomas succeeds Robert Morlino, who was named bishop of Madison, Wisconsin, last May.
Joseph Galante was born July 2, 1938, in Philadelphia. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in May 1964. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of San Antonio, Texas, in October 1992, and named bishop of Beaumont, Texas, in April 1994. He was appointed coadjutor of Dallas in November 1999.
Bishop Galante also served for six years as the undersecretary for the Congregation for Religious in Rome. He holds a doctorate in canon law from the Lateran University. He serves on the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
The Camden Diocese has a Catholic population of 445,000 in a total population of 1.3 million.
George Leo Thomas was born May 19, 1950, in Anaconda, Montana. He studied at Carroll College in Helena, St. Thomas Seminary in Kenmore, Washington, and at the University of Washington, in Seattle. Ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Seattle in May 1976, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Seattle in November 1999.
Bishop Thomas is a member of the U.S. bishops’ Committee for Communications. He is Chairman of Region XII, and a member of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the Subcommittee for Standards and Policy, and the Subcommittee on Bishops and Catholic College and University Presidents.
The Helena Diocese has a Catholic population of about 68,000 in a total population of 509,000.
